When I was in college, I took a class on criminal law. The professor observed that people who had more to lose by committing crime are less likely to do so - that is, if you have a spouse, a mortgage, a good job, or kids, the risk of losing any/all of those things acts as a disincentive for you to break the law. The converse being that the less you perceive you have to lose, the more likely you are to commit a crime.
I do not know if that is entirely true. I think rich people think they can get away with things other people cannot get away with and if they get caught, they can afford good lawyers to either plead them out or get them off.
I am not a law breaker. I do value the things I have accumulated, but I do color a bit outside the lines of what is socially acceptable. Perhaps it is because I feel restricted - that the good job I have affords me the things I value but in exchange obligates me to basically live a lobotomized life where authority is not challenged, things are simply accepted as they are presented - that I need an outlet, be it here on the blog, on Twitter, or elsewhere in my private life.
I also live with the risk of being discovered. I wonder a lot about what would happen if the world's collided - if IRL me and "Scary Lawyer Guy" me crashed. It seems reckless to risk all that middle class stability just because you don't like the people you work for or cannot share your unconventional dating habits, but here we are.
Follow me on Twitter - @scarylawyerguy
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